I would like to ask questions about God/Jesus/Christianity with people who have faith (not non believers),

[BlockPreventor]

the reason I say that, is because I have been a non-believer my whole life and I know that POV.

I went to a CoE primary school so I think I know alot of the Bible stories and messages but not in any depth because my family was devout atheists. And I am a scientist.

however, at the age of 50 I think I might be 'finding faith', I don't really know what the term would be. there have been events and circumstances that I don't particularly want to go into, that have led me here. I have spent a lot of time in Church recently and have found it really comforting. I have prayed and I feel lighter. I can totally get on board with the ideology (as far as I know it). it fills in some of the holes left by science too. but I struggle with a lot of the actual belief in a creator and sacrifice of his son. I have a load of questions, but for starters;

1)if there is a creator, would she be female? it makes no sense that it would be male

2. if you join God in heaven when you die, how do all the graves open to raise the souls, when Jesus returns? aren't they already there?

3. I don't understand the logic of sacrificing Jesus for our sins. how does that help?

4. I'm not keen that heaven is for believers and non-believers don't make it. there are some abominable people who would get into heaven and some amazing people that wouldn't. I don't even want to go if it's full of douches

TIA

I haven't read all of the responses on here so someone might have said this already, but I really recommend an Alpha course if there's one near you. It's a space to ask questions, have discussions and it's all quite relaxed as well.
Talking to your priest/vicar might be a good place to start as well. Most churches also have pastoral or prayer teams who you could chat with.
It's lovely you find peace in your church. I hope you find the answers you need

5. are there lots of different flavours of Christianity, just because they developed in different places??

I believe there's lots of different kinds for many reasons. Ultimately, I think it's a good thing as we are all so different and need to find a way to connect with our Creator that is meaningful to us. For some that may be very traditional hymns or prayers they know off by heart. For others it's having a real 'conversation' with God where they can hear what is he is saying to them somewhere inside them. I think as long as you have the basic doctrine then there's tons of ways to express and experience it. Likewise, beyond basic doctrine (eg. Jesus is God, God is love, Jesus died and rose again etc.) there will be lots of variety of thought on many, many things (homosexuality, heaven and hell, baptism, how you become a Christian, sex before marriage etc).

You find a place/ church you feel most comfortable and aligned with but even then there may be things you disagree with and questions you can't answer because there is a huge amount of grey. I just think it's sad when the grey areas put people off God completely OR when churches think that they are right and others are wrong. We need to get comfortable with not knowing everything and not agreeing with everything!

Ultimately God wants a relationship with all of us, and I believe it makes him happy when we accept that and try to have a relationship with him through prayer and asking God to show us what he wants to in the Bible. Like a PP, I recommend the Message translation. I love psalms and you could also try reading the gospel of Luke, if you are a scientist. He was very thorough! You can download free apps of the Bible which enable you to look at different translations and to look up specific books of the Bible. I have the 'you version' app I think.

@BlockPreventor

yep, here you go

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality

OP

The C of E is also a very broad church, some are much more liberal - some also socially conservative

I meant to type happy CLAPPY 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Shop around definitely for churches

"Why did God make people in the first place"

The Bible verse is creating in his image and to have dominion over the Earth - personally I think he created them so she/he could have relationship with them

I also think 'he created them' means evolution and not that God sat down with some dust and physically made humans (obviously)

Theintelligencerising

I'm very sorry to hear that - it might be good to arrange an appointment with the ministers of churches you're interested in to let them know you'd like to attend but you need some adjustments to be made - seated away from speakers to reduce noise levels

There are lots of Christian courses - an Alpha course might be good for you - again don't be afraid to ask for adjustments

Surely God is 'he' because religion has been ruled since time began by men, and they couldn't possibly have a single higher authority that was female, whilst putting down the female of their own species?

I would describe myself as a Christian but despite having gone to church for years, done the Alpha course etc I still bumble around trying to make sense of things! I believe in God as Creator and that God is both male and female in a way that we can’t really understand (those definitions are just inadequate for God). I find it really interesting that it is perfectly acceptable these days to ‘ask the Universe’ for something but not to pray to God. I see these as the same thing.

I believe in Jesus as both God and human and that he was here on earth. I understand the symbolism of the sacrifice and its historical roots but I still don’t get how and why it worked. Humans didn’t consciously offer Jesus as an atonement sacrifice, they tortured and murdered him!

The main thing I struggle with is how to ‘have a relationship’ with God. What does that look and feel
like. What does it even mean?

Sorry OP didn’t mean to ask questions on your thread!

I think this is the biggest misconception about Christianity. Living a 'good' life is hopefully the result of having a relationship with God which comes when you believe, but it isn't the way to achieve that relationship in the first place.
We're hard wired to want to please people in our relationships but like a good parent/child relationship the parent's love isn't contingent on the behaviour of the child.
I'm not sure I've explained that very well but hopefully it makes some sense.

There’s a comic book version too (the Action Bible). It makes the stories much more accessible if you find dense text hard (I do).

Also, there is a really good website called "The Bible Project" which explains loads of different things from the different books of the Bible

@LaurieFairyCake your saying I won't be tormented by evil spirits in hell has helped me so much. I have feared this for 40+ years. I thought it was what all Christians believed would happen to non Christians. Thank you so very much.

I'm quoting myself (is that allowed? Hopefully if not, sorry MNHQ!) to ask my Qu again?

@medianewbie, not philosophy. I think it's RE myself. Divinity might cover it too. I think this thread has mainly covered issues from a Christian perspective though, whereas RE, Theology etc would be more broad.

According to Google, studying divinity teaches you to become a spiritual leader.

hmmm...but I thought the POINT was to live a good life. you're saying the point is to believe in God. maybe that's why I have considered Christianity hypocritical all these years, because I thought they were supposed to be empathetic, caring, compassionate, serving etc?

There's a lot to dig into in this. Luther was one to put the cat slightly among the pigeons when he translated a Bible passage as the key to life as a Christian being "(Only) Faith, not works" - i.e. deeds, good works, ritual and so on.

I think it comes down to very human ways of being in some ways. Christians are people, like people anywhere. To think that you'll be really favoured by God because YOU think you are always a good Christian and a good person in your small corner, doing good as you see it, it's easy, it doesn't cost you much... well that is to be lured into looking at it too much from your own head and moral high horse. To believe and trust in God is not easy and very few people can do this in a lifelong way. Several Bible verses suggest that this means acknowledging that you are often wrong or harm others, even without being aware of it, realising and being sorry for this, realising that you too need forgiveness and God's perspective, even, just like all those other human people who acted in ways you didn't agree with. Some of the verses show up this behaviour in those who were looked up to as the religious leaders or the technically 'beyond reproach'. The times you really know you need God are, in my experience, when the stakes are very high and you can't use your own intellect or internal abilities to make it all ok. There's the faith - which may be wobbly. The hypocritical bits are frequently when you think you have it all going nice and smooth.

@medianewbie - most unis now have a Dept of Theology & Religion or Theology & Religious Studies. That’s what we’re talking about here and it’s more towards the theology side. Religious Education is more often used for school studies.

Try a "life application bible"
It explains a lot as you go along

www.eden.co.uk/bibles/new-international-version-bibles-niv/niv-study-bible/niv-life-application-study-bible-third-edition-red-letter-hardcover-presentation-page-maps-book-introductions/

This sort of thing

No